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When Professor Grobstein put up the first set of Cezanne and Mondrian pieces on the projecetor, I had a great deal of difficulty seeing the transition/connection (that everyone said was so easy to see) between the second painting of Mondrian's tree and his Composition piece.  My mind did not see any sort of logical connection between the two and I was left feeling very confused.  However, when he put up the other "story" where the paintings were reversed, the picture -- or Professor Grobstein's story of the evolution of art -- became instantly clear.  I immediately looked at the first order of paintings and then the entire connection clicked. This was my brain's ability to create a story when presented with a new situation -- or use an older story to explain a new one.  This is again where I became confused when we switched to the transition into literature.  I want to say that Leaves of Grass was an act of 'randomness' that occured during the era of typical 19th century poetry because it was so different in form and content from what was known that there was no fluid evolutionary process that occured.  However, I don't know if it was the best direction for evolution. I know that Leaves of Grass is a classic that it is read and studied by the best of the best, but I still just don't really understand it.  Maybe it is because I cannot relate (to Whitman, the time period, the content) or maybe it is just because I cannot seem to understand his form and thought process and why he wrote the way he did.  I, like Rina, seem to be abstractly impaired when it comes to understanding literature (however not so much art for some reason...).  When I read Whitman, I do not feel connected to him as an author and I do not feel emotions when I read Leaves of Grass (except my frustration for not understanding).  Therefore, I feel as though Whitman has accomplished the idea of writing in a non-representational fashion.  Although there may be passages which can be extracted from the poem as a whole that have meaning, I cannot seem to understand what direction Whitman is going with the Leaves of Grass.  However, I am more than willing for someone to open my eyes...